Banana Berry Green Smoothie

It’s Recipe Redux time once again!  I missed last month because of poor planning the holidays and traveling.  I’m excited to be back this month for the “fresh starts” theme!

One of our fresh starts began with finally spending money on a good blender.  We have been experimenting with all kinds of smoothie combinations using fresh and frozen fruits, milk, water, spices, and greens.  I keep referring to Andy’s Smoothies 101 post for tips and ideas.

This combo is one of my favorites so far. If you are wondering why I call it a green smoothie even though it looks purple, it’s because one of the ingredients is spinach.  Before you balk at adding greens to your fruit smoothie, let me challenge you to give it a try.  If you do it right, all you will taste is the sweetness of the fruit and the smoothness of the milk.  Just make sure you blend it up well so that there aren’t any green chunks hanging around (blech!).

Banana Berry Green Smoothie

A delicious green smoothie that comes out purple!
Servings 2

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1 cup filtered water
  • 1 small banana
  • 1 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1 cup frozen peach slices
  • 2 cups organic baby spinach
  • 1 Tbsp. chia seeds optional
  • Dash of cinnamon or nutmeg

Instructions
 

  • Add all ingredients to your blender in the order that they are listed. Blend until smooth.

 

What kind of fresh starts has your family made this year?
What is your favorite smoothie combination?

 

Make sure to check out the rest of the “fresh starts” ideas in the link-up below!

 

*for those of you who were asking, the pint glass is from Bread & Badger on Etsy.

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  • Emily January 21, 2012 at 1:28 am

    I love the addition of green leaves to this smoothie, I will definitely try this one!

    • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:47 pm

      Thanks Emily, I hope you like it as much as we do!

  • Elizabeth Jarrard January 21, 2012 at 6:16 am

    I actually love that the blueberries hide the green of the spinach-I could get a lot more people to try my DELICIOUS smoothies if they didn’t look like a swamp monster 😉

    • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:48 pm

      That is such a good point Elizabeth! I didn’t even think about the fact that this might ease people into the green smoothie thing.

  • Nicole @WholeHealthRD January 21, 2012 at 7:15 am

    I NEED to start my Vitamix savings account :p Goal for 2012! My favorite snack/dessert lately is a smoothie with coconut milk, half a banana, maca, and cocoa powder.

    • Becky January 21, 2012 at 8:45 pm

      We love green smoothies around here. Lately I’ve been making them with kale, banana, berries and almond milk. My kids (3 and 4) fight me for the leftovers.
      The vitamix is hands down my favorite kitchen appliance. It comes with us on vacation. 🙂

      • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:49 pm

        Becky, that sounds almost identical to this one! My kids love them too.

    • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:49 pm

      Nicole, we are loving the Blendtec and it’s not quite as expensive as the Vitamix 🙂

  • Deanna Segrave-Daly January 21, 2012 at 7:18 am

    I think I need a Vitamix as well as I’ve always gotten those “green chunks” whenever trying a green smoothie but this recipe gives me inspiration! (Hey that’s the name of your blog 🙂

    • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:50 pm

      Haha, so glad I could inspire you Deanna 🙂

  • gretchen January 21, 2012 at 7:31 am

    ooo, yum. such a pretty color… looks delicious and dairy-free!

  • EA-The Spicy RD January 21, 2012 at 7:47 am

    Great smoothie Alysa, and I loved the smoothie ideas from Andy’s post too! I experiment

  • EA-The Spicy RD January 21, 2012 at 7:50 am

    Oops! Hit submit too soon by accident! I was going to say that I just started experimenting with green smoothies not to long ago, and I love ’em now, especially with kale and blueberries. Glad you’re enjoying your high powered blender 🙂

  • Liz Marr, MS, RD January 21, 2012 at 8:30 am

    Great idea for a smoothie. Blueberries and spinach – what a fun combination.

  • Kara January 21, 2012 at 9:14 am

    This might be my perfect intro to green smoothies. Love that pint glass by the way!

  • Rebecca @ It's a Savoury Life January 21, 2012 at 11:03 am

    You’ve inspired me! I love adding oatmeal to my smoothies (if you haven’t already you must give if a try!) but have never ventured to the green side of things…here I go!

    • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:50 pm

      Yay! Hope you love it Rebecca!

  • GRAINCRAZY January 21, 2012 at 11:05 am

    I love green smoothies. Thanks for sharing! Great combination.

  • Jennifer January 21, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    What blender did you purchase? Mine is breaking so I’ll be looking soon. I’d also like a food processor. Any suggestions?

    • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:51 pm

      Jennifer, we got the Blendtec (click on the photo in the post and you can check it out). I always recommend the Cuisinart food processors, they are really nice!

  • Alexandra Caspero January 21, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    This looks great! First off, I love that article on Smoothies 101. I follow Andy as well, he’s great. Yummy recipe. Thanks

    • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:52 pm

      Andy is such a great source of info, I turn to him for lots of inspiration!

  • Jeff Bajenaru January 21, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    Ok, so yes, I am InspiredRD’s husband so I am a little biased but I put a TON of spinach in my smoothies w/ dry oatmeal and whatever else I can find & I’ve never even tasted the “greens”. Seriously, this blender was so worth the $! There are never any chunks & it just tastes like fruit when you do it right! Thx for the nudge Alysa…

    • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:52 pm

      Thanks for buying it sweetie 🙂

  • Liz - Meal Makeover Mom January 21, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    I don’t typically add greens to our smoothies, but I really want to give it a try. I just got a Ninja blender, so maybe this will be my first Ninja smoothie. I’ll report back if the greens go over w/ my boys!!

    • inspiredrd January 21, 2012 at 8:20 pm

      Liz, I forgot to mention this in the post, but my kids LOVE these green smoothies! Hope yours do too.

  • Emma Stirling January 22, 2012 at 4:59 am

    Wow Alysa that does sound like one powerful blender…..my fussy Master 7 can spy a chunk from the other side of the room. We’ve just got our Kitchenaid but I think a power blender is next on the list.

  • Christie Gosch January 31, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    Totally enjoying this for lunch today – yum!
    I blended the liquids with the spinach first before adding other ingredients because my blender sucks and this eliminated any green chunks 🙂
    The Blendtec is on my list of wants!

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